Henry Ginn of East Wickham d. 1897

Henry Ginn here was a direct descendant of Robert Ginn (d. 1587 - see my post of  25th June )  and is mentioned here to break up the posts a little and introduce a different period.  Some of his siblings will be dealt with in a later post.

Henry was born in Great Hormead  but left at an early age and joined the Royal Navy - he was a stoker. He travelled widely, and at one point he is known to have visited his brother William in Australia.

Henry’s first term of service in the Navy was untraced by me until 2008, and even now I do not know for certain exactly when he joined up and when he left because there does not appear to be a full service record.  If he joined the Navy in his teens then he may well have seen service in the Crimean War but we will likely never be sure either way.  What I do know was that he joined HMS Chesapeake (crew of 500 or so), likely in 1857 when this 51 gun steam frigate sailed from Chatham for the East Indies and China, because in 1859/1860 it is known that he was a stoker on that ship in the Second China War as he was awarded the China War Medal with the clasp for the taking of the Taku Forts in China in 1860. The Chesapeake was the flagship of the British squadron and was at the forefront of the initial unsuccessful assault in 1859 (Second Battle of the Taku Forts), many of her crew (including some stokers) being put into gunboats (effectively landing craft) and assisting in storming the forts. After much hard fighting the attack was eventually beaten off by the Chinese.  A good number of men from the ship were killed and wounded, many of the wounded being taken back to the ship where they died.  The Chesapeake Memorial to the dead still stands at Portsmouth  and is shown below.

The British and French military expedition of the subsequent year  succeeded in taking the Taku Forts (Third Battle) and ultimately ended with the taking of Peking. Henry was awarded his medal, a companion to which is shown below.

 The Chesapeake sailed home and was paid off in early 1861, Henry obviously marrying Sarah Meldrum at Lewisham almost immediately.

He re-enlisted in November 1866 and is known to have served in HMS Basilisk (1871-4), HMS Pembroke (Medway shore establishment) and HMS Duncan.  By far his most interesting time was spent on HMS Basilisk.  This is a quite famous steam sloop (paddle driven) which was commanded by a Captain Moresby and was engaged in much charting and exploration of New Guinea and parts of north eastern Australia during the early 1870s.  There were several voyages, and Port Moresby in New Guinea is named after the ships commander. The Basilisk is shown several times on the website “Picture Australia”, there being several watercolours of it in Australian galleries.  Henry spent three years in the ship on the “Australia station” and it is undoubtedly on one of these voyages that Henry went to see his brother William in Australia (William had emigrated and his Australian Ginn descendants have a record of this) and Harry was supposed to have taken his brother a gift of a warm overcoat during the Australian summer, to the latter’s amusement, given the heat being experienced at the time.  

                            HMS Basilisk is shown to the left

Henry retired from the Navy on pension.  I have attempted to trace his service details from the number quoted in the index to these at the National Archives, but the index seems to be in error.  On leaving the navy he took up various jobs.

The family had originally settled in Plumstead, near Harry’s brother Thomas, but eventually they moved down to East Wickham near Dartford.

Harry Ginn died in 1897, he was 60: administration of his effects going to his eldest son.  Sarah died in Maidstone in 1914.

Henry and Sarah had five children, two of whom died in infancy.  Of the rest:

Jane - never married.  She spent some time in New Zealand, dying in 1931 and leaving a will which mentions the children of her two brothers.

Thomas - married twice, including his late brother's widow

Henry - also married twice